Using A Raised Planting Bed to Grow Vegetables

A raised planting bed refers to the way that your home garden sits up off the grade-level of soil. There are several benefits to having one, some of which include: easier gardening, easier watering, less pain in your back and legs and eye level for the little ones. After all, a raised garden bed refers to the way that your garden is just raised up, from being directly in the ground to being up anywhere from 12-24”, in most cases. Many are made of wood posts that are stacked to create a type of ‘log cabin’ style of wall. Sometimes a landscape fabric can be laid first to limit the amount of possible weed growth you might experience.

But, the real reason why these and other gardens at home have become so popular is in part because of the types of foods that we find available now. Growing foods in all sorts of artificial environments, using a myriad of chemical agents is what farming has turned into. There is a big backlash happening worldwide to this sort of practice. Television shows are popping up all the time that are addressing the need to return to healthy growing and eating habits. Somewhere along the way, convenience really took over our priority for healthy. Fast food became the name of the game and we sort of gave up our priority for fresh foods. Not all pre-packaged or frozen foods are terrible. Of course not. There is still a big need for those as well. The point is, make them with non-commercially grown and processed products too.

And, before you start thinking that this is some sort of vegetarian propaganda piece, consider the way that meats are now processed and treated in our country and abroad. The amount of antibiotics, hormones and other pharmaceutical and agricultural products that the animals we consume are subjected to would probably at least have you cutting back on how much you ate. This would only be because you are scared about what you were ingesting!

Okay, so that was a big tangent, but let’s get back on topic. We’re talking about how growing your own vegetables at home in a raised bed can lead to a lot of good things. One of these is the fact that you can have fresh veggies for you and your family. Depending on the size of your family, it may or may not be feasible to get all of what you need. Another benefit is the fact that your kids can actually learn where their foods come from. It has also been shown that gardening can lead to lower stress levels and greater ease. For these reasons and more, consider building your own raised planting bed.